Considerate
by Nessaiya
Summary: Tony is embracing his inner caveman. And Loki is pouting. After all, she got all dolled up, and everything the tabloids are interested in is Tony's hand. Sequel to "Pliant".


**Story:** Tony is embracing his inner caveman. And Loki is pouting. After all, she got all dolled up, and everything the tabloids are interested in is Tony's hand.

 **Author's note:** More fluff. At least _something_ useful came out of that pointless 3-hour long meeting at work today.

 **Disclaimer:** Not mine, I'm just playing with them.

* * *

 **Considerate**

* * *

He is leaning against the doorway for quite some time now, watching her as she sits there at the counter of the bar in their fancy hotel room and he is not quite sure whether she is just letting him watch her, or if she really is oblivious that he managed to roll out of bed 30 minutes after she has left him there.

He is considerate in some way, giving her space when all he wants to do is to dart out of bed right after her when morning sickness strikes again. She does not want him in the same room then, though, which means that he locks up his inner caveman and waits until she deems herself representable again.

He may or may not have nodded off again this time, though.

She is holding one of his tablet computers in her left hand as she sits there on a barstool, balancing on it with her left leg drawn up, her knee against her chest, her heel right in front of her bum, and toes that are expertly painted with dark red nail polish curling around the corner of the chair.

Loki is scrolling and tapping on the screen, long, elegant fingers moving in a way that still tells him that she did not grow up around devices like these, and every now and then she is reaching for a cup on the counter, sipping some of this herbal tea that obviously helps _her,_ while the smell is making _him_ nauseous.

Tony knows what she is looking at, since their first Dinner date after the auction she is obsessed with how the media will react every time they set a foot out of the house/tower together, however, what ranks a bit higher in his _things that need my attention_ list is the fact that she is wearing his dress shirt from the day before, some panties, and nothing else, and somehow this sight alone is enough to make his blood vacate most of the more evolved regions of his brain to fuel animalistic instincts of _mine_ and _must protect_ in his lizard brain.

By now he is sure that she really has not noticed him standing there, watching her, because he has noticed these kinds of emotions around her already some time ago and cannot help behaving after them most of the time. Which means that yesterday he totally ratted them out to the media at this red-carpet event where he never let her get out of his reach, and his hand portraying the golden band that just _screamed_ "YES! I am married!" never leaving the tiny bump that might have gone unnoticed if he'd not always feel the need to touch it.

Actually, he feels like touching her right now.

Loki must have felt Tony's eyes on her by now as her head is slowly lifted up, and he is not quite sure whether he should suit up or run away when he sees her calm expression.

Thank goodness a smile replaces the glare quickly and she is lifting and turning the tablet as she is taking another gulp of tea, declaring with a grin: "Look! We made it to the front pages of all of these nosy magazines."

Tony is squeezing his eyes half shut to be able to read the headline across the distance, letting out a huff when he finally makes out the _Did she finally tame the beast?,_ and as he closes the distance to her in some lazy strides he reads a _Who is Tony Stark's current mysterious love interest?_ acrossa picture of them that prominently features his hand.

He is not quite sure whether he should feel offended about the current. Yes, he's had his glorious times, sleeping with everything that has a pulse, but Lady Loki is at his side for so many months now and he's done nothing to warrant headlines speculating that it's only temporary.

Both of them think it's hilarious, though, that the media still have not found out who the woman at his side is, they don't even have a name. Their superhero buddies, at least the ones who are not out of town, babysitting metal-armed H.Y.D.R.A. killers from another century think it's hilarious, too, and have not told on them up to now. And it's not like there's actually a lack of opportunity to ask for all those reporters.

Because, let's face it, both of them are suckers for attention, and Loki does love to pose for a camera.

Most of the It-girls hate her for that. Because, seriously, who needs a Kardashian who's dangling every yoghurt she eats in front of the tabloids' nose, when you can sell a mystery, someone that makes people wonder, inquire, and doesn't have a butt like a brewery horse.

He may or may not have said that out loud at some other event, the media happily jumping the opportunity to proclaim a celebrity feud, whoever of the K-Klan he had offended trying to sue him, and, somehow, J.A.R.V.I.S. was leaking some very well photoshopped pictures that illustrated exactly this comparison. Tony has never been prouder of his AI.

It gave these pillars of society some of their publicity back, and as for the rest – well, Tony has enough money to throw it at a problem until it goes away.

He still relishes the fact that more or less everybody thinks that his woman is the hotter one.

"They did not say anything about my dress or my shoes", Loki pouts in the meantime and when Tony focuses on her again there's a hard fight of evolved brain vs. lizard brain on how to answer to her lower lip sticking out like this

Evolved brain wins. At least this time. Grabbing a tablet, throwing it to the other end of the room and ripping all of her clothes off her body is what got them into this situation, after all.

"Actually, nobody is talking about me!" she complains and keeps pouting, and Tony opens his mouth to disagree, but Loki flashes him another headline. _Tony Stark - So many secrets!_ it proclaims, once more featuring Tony's arm around Loki's waist, almost cutting their heads off.

He's squinting at the photograph, trying to decide whether one can see the tiny bump of which he definitely knows it's there, after all, he's kissing it goodnight every time they go to sleep, or if the media really are only going crazy over his wedding band.

And yes, they are married, and not only because it was the right thing to do, but because it was _the thing to do_. Period.

In front of him, Loki huffs as she opens the next tabloid, one of the highly speculative ones, one of those Agent K would purchase to figure out what was going on in the alien society on Earth. Once more featuring the hand, the headline practically screaming _IRON BABY ON THE WAY?!_

Loki looks confused, green eyes directed at him. "How do they even know?" she asks and that's when he realizes that while she has kept track of them in the media, she has not really grasped the concept of paparazzi stalking celebrities and the only reason tabloids have for headlines like these is to sell, sell, sell.

"They don't", he answers and then starts explaining that with every VIP couple a gained pound here or there, bloating, a handbag that was held somewhat suspiciously, or a husband wanting to actually touch his wife always resulted in speculations about the couple procreating, admitting that somehow he outed them. He then tells her to read what they wrote in the half column of an article that comes with the picture.

The description of Tony treating his beloved like a precious flower, carefully making sure that nothing would harm her, leading her over the red carpet like the delicate treasure she is, it makes her scrunch her nose, and when she reaches the part where the writer actually asks whether there might be a sweet little secret the reason for this behavior she is laughing loudly.

"Oh, but they do describe your caveman needs to care for me and our offspring very aptly", she teases and while he knows that these kinds of articles are written in such a highly speculative way that the magazines can always argue they didn't say anything for sure, it gives him a headache, because somehow they _are_ right.

"They still could have written something about how stunning I looked", she then proclaims, and the pout is back, directed at him.

His mind is still hung up with his caveman needs, and obviously she is expecting him to say something, because her eyebrows draw together and this steep line appears between her eyes, the pout turning into a frown. Her leg that she had pulled against her chest shifts down as she lowers the tablet.

"Anthony, are you alright?"

A soft smile makes it to his lips as he walks up in between her legs, his hand brushing down the collar of his dress shirt. Yes. Yes, he is alright, he just never thought that his life would take this turn. After New York, after this mess with the Mandarin and having to fix Pepper while accepting the painful truth that they were not made for each other he'd all his bets on turning into the next Hugh Hefner, eventually.

"I'm fine", he tells her and Loki's expression is all but convinced, she is still scrutinizing him, trying to channel her inner genius-billionaire-former playboy now dedicated husband- philanthropist to figure out what the man in front of her is thinking.

Tony hopes she never comes up with the dark world he is imagining had he not met her, and seriously, his relationship with Loki and their little blueberry-bump are not only keeping him sane, but it's also a big _Fuck you_ into the face of whatever destiny that might have come true had _Whoever_ not decided to dump the God/Goddess of Mischief on the Avengers.

He is pretty sure he would have ended up building a well-intentioned weapon of mass destruction, loosing J.A.R.V.I.S. somewhere along the way, and most probably would have meddled with Captain Spandex' need to run after his brain-washed [killer-robot] army friend, ending up half-dead with the Vibranium shield crushing his chest somewhere at the end of the world, alone and desperate.

He is still looking at her, taking the tablet out of her hand and shoving her cup out of smelling-distance, his fingers that were brushing the collar of his shirt sliding lower to find the first button she closed, and while he was sentimental only seconds before, now he feels possessiveness creep up his spine.

 _Mine!_ his lizard brain exclaims once more as he kisses her, and this possessiveness is what keeps him from suggesting to leak a sex tape to be in the gossip mill all over. This is his, and he does not want anyone in on it.

"The next Charity thing is coming for sure. And I promise to keep my hands off you so they can worship you and your Manolo Blahniks in all your glory", he offers as he breaks the kiss, taking in her pinkish lips and blown pupils, and man, it does give his ego a boost that he can do this to her.

She just softly hums a "Mmmh", her hands finding his that are still holding the fabric of the dress shirt, never opening that button she closed. She's just holding him, and leaning in for another kiss, and his dark thoughts are fading away.

When they part the next time, Tony cannot help but smile.

"We could also give a press conference, to announce our marriage", he then says. It's all over the media, anyway, they can confirm it.

Loki's smile turns mischievous instantly.

"As long as we keep our blueberry and my name a secret", she purrs, pulling him against her, and he has to laugh.

She really likes to make the paparazzi squirm.

"You're really gonna make them work for it, huh?"

Of course she is. She is Loki, after all.


End file.
